In the 20's Club

Life in Ntranoa

Hello Family and Friends! I am now 20! Yay! So I am in the "Club" since Elder Nsenga is 25 so now we are 20 buddies ha-ha! I have A LOT of pictures this week from this past transfer to now so I hope you enjoy them!!!

This past week was a pretty good week, but also a bit slower but that's okay. Tuesday we had District Meeting and we welcomed Sister Thomas to the Abura District. I have thought about why we have 8 sisters in our district and I love them like my sisters. They remind me of Katie and Camille and I think that's part of the reason I am with these sisters: they remind me of my family back home.

The sisters work really hard and are doing really well. Sister Otusany and Sister Moneyi finish this transfer and Sister Ruskin finishes her mission the transfer after that, so it will be sad to see these missionaries go home. But in our district meeting I talked just small about change and improving (since it was my 20th birthday) allowing ourselves to change and improve every day and let the past be the past and continue to move on in Faith. I showed them the picture of “Jesus Christ Knocking on the Door”, illustrating Jesus Christ is just waiting on us, to let Him into our lives to change. After District meeting we had a small party! We brought drinks, popcorn, and biscuits! The Abgura Sisters made fried rice and chicken and brought Fan Ice and we played some games and it was sweet. The Abura Sisters even gave me a gift (which was a shirt and that was nice of them), and then they soaked me of course, so that was cool! :)

Wednesday came and I officially Turned 20! Wahoo! :) Some people from the zone wished me a happy birthday and that was nice of them. Otherwise it was a pretty normal day. We saw Otu (Whom we believe is a chief) and he was very defensive about Multiple Wives and, so it was only an okay lesson. (We really think he is a chief in another place.)  We also saw Sister Mary Menash and helped her small with her Family History which was SO cool! She is preparing names to go to the temple!! We also met a less active named Benjamin in Quarters and he is a sweet guy! He is 17 years old and seems like just a normal teenager ha-ha. I am sad that he doesn’t come to church but we tried just to be his friends and make him feel loved, so hopefully we can see him more.

Thursday we saw Francis Ampiah and he is understanding the Word of Wisdom which is great! And we talked about the Law of Chasity and Obedience, and Following the Prophet. Elder Nsenga and I then talked to President Thompson about some concerns and challenges we are facing in Ntranoa and we got some really good advice and a referral for his nephew Isaac Penti who is 14 and is now living with them, so that's really sweet!

Friday and Saturday were pretty slow days. We saw Brother Evans on Friday and we just had a nice talk to him. He is moving to Elmina soon, but he says he will still come to our branch, (Hopefully that will be soon because he hasn't been to church in a long time :(  But it was a good talk.

Saturday we saw Florence Awuni and we had a great lesson with her on Authority and we asked her to pray about Priesthood Authority. We asked her if she came to know this is true, she would be baptized and she said yes! So hopefully she got an answer to her question so she can be baptized (She could use some prayers right now).

Sunday was a good day at church, and PEC was a nice discussion about the ward and how to avoid the problems of people asking us for money. (There have been missionaries in the past who have given money to ward members which is cool, but now it’s a culture of asking and we had 3 women specifically wanted to talk to me privately about money issues. I just can't get involved nor have that kind of money to help. So Elder Nsenga and I have a plan that if anyone wants to talk to me privately, he will always be there because they won't talk about money if he is around. I am grateful for him :) The branch is really good, we just want the members to know we are just here to fulfill our purpose and not to get involved in matters like that, even though it is really sad at times. We just want to encourage them to go to the ward for help.

After PEC we had FuFu with Sister Fransica and her two daughters celebrating our August Birthdays. Let me just say Groundnut soup is pretty great!!! :) One of my favorites for sure.

Anyways that's all for the week!! :) I hope that you are all doing well, and I continue to pray for all of you and hope that you are all doing well. Stay strong :)

Love,

Elder Harward